Kathy describes her young self this way.

I felt very unsure of everything.

I was very insecure, and I still am to a certain extent.

And I was I w- I was not able to relate to people in a healthy way, you know? And, um, I didn't know how really to relate to people, and so my relationships were all really messy.

And since I couldn't figure that out, m- I was very sad because I couldn't figure out relationships.

I couldn't understand how to be a friend, how to be a romantic partner.

I couldn't figure out any of that stuff.

With regular meditation and this specific compassion practice, Kathy noticed a fundamental change within herself.

[laughs]

We've got hands.

We got feet.

We got everything.

We can commit crimes, and we also can commit beauty, and we can also commit love and salvation and redemption.

We can commit these things with our hands.

And so we got a full set, so what are we gonna do with that? And, like, w- why are we here, and how can we make it better for everybody? And from the Buddhist philosophy point of view, and I think that this is not in conflict with any of the faith traditions of the world, the world is hard, and the world is full of suffering and difficulty and so forth, and realizing that and choosing to do something different in response to that, because, okay, let, let's go sideways on something s- I've been thinking about lately.

The interconnection is startling.

Her talk is about holding a good heart in difficult times.

If you want to work with your experience of the world, you work with your mind, because your mind is that which you experience everything.

You, you experience everything with, uh, with your mind, and therefore, if you want to adjust your experience of the world, we need to adjust our mind.

And, um, not in a way that we close out the world and pretend it's not happening.

Not like that.

Not some kind of avoidance or suppression.

We try to be with what is.

The compassion teachings were made for these moments.

Sure.

Um, hey, [clears throat] I feel it.

I feel it.

So the teacher is both the, uh, the goal and also the, in a way, he's the path because, um, I should also say she because there are so many, many great teachers who are women.

So the, the fact of the matter is teachers show us what's possible and give us an idea of how to get there.

And so when I, uh, saw Rinpoche, of course, I projected all these wonderful qualities on him, on, on him and, but the thing about him was that he never disappointed me.

Never.

[laughs]